This article features an interview with Nick Foster, former Head of Design for Google X.
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Science fiction has really colonised the world of technology futures to an unhelpful degree.
So we have to tell stories and those stories tend to fall back on the natural tropes of storytelling.
But whats the problem with living in a sci-fi fantasy vision of the future?
The future may not be sexy, but it sure as hell will be practical for you and me.
What all of these varied products had in common was that they cost their companies millions in lost revenue.
Technology can be intoxicating.
Those things become ossified into everyones brain both in the consumer space and the creators space.
So that just becomes the primary dominant method of stimulus for creating new products for the future.
Ive worked in this space long enough to see that happening almost homogeneously across the board.
Its my job to actually design for the future.
If you just tell a fantasy and produce sexy renderings of futuristic vehicles, it just doesnt go anywhere.
It gets clicks but its essentially the work of marketing, rather than new product development.
How old do you have to be to fly one?
Are there motorways in the sky?
How do we regulate that?
How do these things refuel?
We have to really ask those rigorous questions, otherwise, its just a fun escape for the afternoon.
Science fiction has polluted our potential for thinking about the future.
That doesnt mean we cant have nice things.
Amongst the remnants of product flops past, there was an early Nintendo VR headset from 95.
And it was certainly not an option for most of Nintendos target audience (children and pre-teen boys).
It is possible to get to some of the ultra-futuristic tech youre dreaming up, Foster says.
But you oughta take small steps forward and build on existing architecture.
The further you move out from today, the more uncertain it’s possible for you to be.
The way futurists approach long-term projects is by populating them with many different scenarios.
As the world changes, you reassess each one.
Its a bit like scenario planning.
Science fiction has gotten into our brains and has polluted our potential for thinking about the future.
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